Our
Board

Dr. Mi-Chung Ahn

Dr. Mi-Chung Ahn is a seasoned leader in biotechnology, intellectual property, and public policy, with more than 30 years of experience spanning government, academia, and the life sciences industry. She currently serves as Chairman of Bukwang Pharmaceutical and is the former Chair of the Board of OCI Holdings.

Dr. Ahn began her scientific career as a researcher at Rush University Medical Center and completed postdoctoral training at the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) and the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (KRIBB). She later held seniorleadership roles at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, where she shaped national R&D and innovation policy. She also represented Korea internationally as Chair of APEC’s Intellectual Property RightsExperts Group and lectured at the WIPO Worldwide Academy.

In the private sector, Dr. Ahn was CEO of SL Biogen, Vice President at Intellectual Discover, and a Managing Partner at Eruumleeon IP Law Firm for two decades. She currently serves as Advisory Managing Partner at Jipyong IP Law Firm and is an Adjunct Professorat Yonsei University.

Dr. Ahn holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from Yonsei University, an M.S. in Microbiology from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Immunology from Rush University.

Dr. Mahmoud Mahmoudian, FRS

Dr. Mahmoud Mahmoudian brings over 25 years of leadership in biotech innovation, fund raising, company building, and venture creation driving growth strategies to develop and commercialize novel medicines.  He was recruited to Cobro Ventures as Partner operating across its portfolio as President, CEO, and Chief Business Officer.  Prior to this position, he was Senior Vice President, Head of External Innovation Hub at Sumitomo Pharma establishing a corporate venture fund and developing strategic partnerships as an early-stage investor.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Mahmoudian led global drug development and innovation teams at Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and Ferring with 10 FDA approvals ($15B sales).  Dr. Mahmoudian earned his Doctor and Master of Science in Biotechnology from the Imperial College London.  He is on the Board of Directors of BioEclipse Therapeutics and Caravan Biologix, an Executive in Residence at Columbia and Princeton Universities, and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).  Dr. Mahmoudian joins Contera Pharma as an independent board member.

Thomas Sager

CEO at Contera Pharma, has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and more than 24 years of drug discovery experience acquired in the biotech and pharma industry. For more than a decade he held various leadership roles in R&D drug discovery at Lundbeck A/S, covering both neurology and psychiatry, and has taken numerous projects through from discovery to development. His scientific work generated over 35 peer-reviewed papers. Over the years he served as invited reviewer for many organizations, including the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

In 2012, Thomas Sager joined Business Development at Lundbeck A/S, where he served as Vice President, Head of Business Development, Licensing and Scientific Assessment until November 2020, where he established the licensing strategy, was responsible for the execution of scientific assessments and was a project leader for corporate strategy initiatives. As part of his responsibilities in Business Development, Thomas Sager has been involved in multiple licensing, M&A opportunities and deals.

Partner at BHV Partners / Startup Builders since 2018.